How to use the First Comment Planner for Hashtags and Captions
- Paste the whole caption. Include the hashtags and @mentions exactly as you would post them. A block of hashtags at the end and hashtags inside a sentence are both handled.
- Choose what happens to hashtags. All hashtags moves every tag to the comment. Overflow only moves tags from the end until the caption fits. None leaves the text as you wrote it.
- Pick the network. The second part is a comment on Instagram and LinkedIn, a reply on X, Threads and Bluesky, and a comment you pin by hand on TikTok. The limits for both parts change with the network.
- Copy both parts. Publish the caption, then paste the second part as soon as the post is live. Fix any part marked over the limit first.
How the first comment planner splits a caption
What the planner checks
It finds every hashtag and mention, separates the block of hashtags at the end from the ones inside sentences, then rebuilds the caption and the comment under the mode you chose. Both parts are counted for the chosen network, and each is flagged if it is over. Hashtags inside web addresses and look-alikes such as C# or a#b are not treated as hashtags.
On Instagram it also compares the hashtag and mention totals with the documented caption caps of 30 hashtags and 20 @ tags.
Rules and sources
Instagram: caption up to 2,200 characters, 30 hashtags and 20 @ tags per the Instagram Graph API media reference. X: 280 weighted characters with links counted as 23, per the counting characters page in the X docs. Threads: 500 characters, per the Threads posts documentation on developers.facebook.com. Bluesky: 300 graphemes, per the app.bsky.feed.post lexicon. TikTok: caption of 2,200 UTF-16 units, per the Content Posting API direct post reference, and counted that way here.
LinkedIn post and comment lengths and the Instagram and TikTok comment lengths are approximate figures that are widely quoted. The planner shows those as approximate and only adds a note, never an error, when you pass them.
Limitations
The planner does not post anything and cannot see whether a network will reject a comment for spam reasons. Overflow mode moves whole hashtags and never trims your sentences, so a caption that is too long without hashtags stays flagged. Check the live count in the network's own composer before you publish.
Frequently asked questions
Does TimeToPost schedule the first comment for me?
No. TimeToPost does not have a first comment field on any network today, so this page prepares the two parts and you add the comment yourself after the post is live. On X the closest scheduled alternative is a thread, because TimeToPost schedules threads on X, where the second post is your own reply. Threads and Bluesky have no scheduled reply chain in TimeToPost, so post that reply by hand.
Why would I put hashtags in a comment at all?
To keep the caption clean for readers, and to stay under a caption limit. It is a style choice, not a ranking trick. Instagram has publicly suggested using a small number of relevant tags, and it has not said that the comment position adds reach, so do not assume it does.
What happens to a hashtag inside a sentence?
If it moves, the word stays in the sentence without the # so the line still reads, and the tag is added to the comment. So "I love #coffee" becomes "I love coffee" in the caption and #coffee in the comment. Hashtags at the very end of the text are removed entirely.
Why do mentions never move?
A mention in the caption tags the person in the post itself. Moving it into a comment changes who is notified and where the tag appears, so the planner leaves every @mention where you wrote it and only counts it.
Is a first comment a real feature on every network?
No. On Instagram and LinkedIn it is an ordinary comment. X, Threads and Bluesky have no such feature, you reply to your own post, which is a second post in your timeline. TikTok has comments and lets you pin one by hand, but no scheduled first comment. The result panel says which of these applies to the network you picked.
Are the limits official?
The caption limits for Instagram (2,200), X (280), Threads (500), Bluesky (300) and TikTok (2,200) come from the networks' own documentation. The LinkedIn numbers and the Instagram and TikTok comment lengths are widely cited but not stated on a page we could fetch, so the tool marks them as approximate.